that petition is old. Plus Microsoft wouldn't really listen to the minority (and that minority is the Linux User). MS can really do what ever they want as long as they have multiple governments on their side.

EDIT: Also Secure Boot is disable-able_________________Copyrights and Patents aren't real kinds of property. Copyright Nazis brainwash you to believe they exist so they can chill free speech, innovation, and creativity. Good people DON'T believe that Copyright exists!

Microsoft have been very cagey about how they implement "secure boot". If a PC vendor wishes to carry the windows 8 logo then they must implement secure boot. Now, this, as I understand, is firmware that replaces the traditional BIOS, much like macs do it. The problem then becomes different for every different PC

From the tone of the website, this secure boot thing seems to be targetted towards females only?

"This could be a feature deserving of the name, as long as the user is able to authorize the programs she wants to use, so she can run free software written and modified by herself or people she trusts".

Its because there is no gender neutral way to refer to a single person in the English language. This has been covered in another murga topic. You either have to use male or female orientation or the clunky s/he his/her. Sometimes those conscious of the default male orientation use the female one for a change._________________helping Wiki for help | IF SendSpace link = "dead" THEN PM me ("up file to http://meownplanet.net/")

I signed the petition, knowing it won't do anything. Resistance is resistance, however futile.

If this Secure Boot garbage takes over, I'll just cobble computers together with old parts, until they make it illegal to have old parts under the heading of "national security" or "cybersecurity" or some other BS.

Hm. Secure Boot, SB. Bull****, BS.

I think I just noticed something.

Also, isn't it amazing how the human need for safety and one's internal fear mechanisms (rather a linked pair) are so strong that any perceived threat, however real or fake, has to be addressed almost immediately? Combine that with peoples' current DRASTIC lack of understanding about computers and you get a pile of sheep that will follow the fear-mongers wherever they go... just on the off chance that these fear-mongers are right (which they almost never are).

Sorry Windows 8 and Windows 8 PCs already has Secure Boot._________________Copyrights and Patents aren't real kinds of property. Copyright Nazis brainwash you to believe they exist so they can chill free speech, innovation, and creativity. Good people DON'T believe that Copyright exists!

When done correctly, "Secure Boot" is designed to protect against malware by preventing computers from loading unauthorized binary programs when booting.

I think an easier way than forcing the user to have a locked up BIOS would be for Microsoft to release their OS on a CD.

That way they could guarantee it would load an "un-tampered" OS into memory.

Of course, the OS code would have to be secure first.... Slight problem for Microsoft.

So by locking down the BIOS what they want to achieve is a secure way to load an insecure operating system. Marvellous. I guess then we will have to tick the box that says "check to allow Microsoft (trusted corporation) to update your secure BIOS every time I connect to the internet"

"Please wait while the computer applies 46 security updates to your BIOS. Do not shut down or power off until all updates are applied..."

Maybe I could support this technology when Microsoft announces that they have issued their last security patch and the OS is now secure.

Since the BIOS cam up just now in my head, someone told me that their MSI Motherboard has a Web Browser built-in, wow that means trouble._________________Copyrights and Patents aren't real kinds of property. Copyright Nazis brainwash you to believe they exist so they can chill free speech, innovation, and creativity. Good people DON'T believe that Copyright exists!

Its because there is no gender neutral way to refer to a single person in the English language. This has been covered in another murga topic. You either have to use male or female orientation or the clunky s/he his/her. Sometimes those conscious of the default male orientation use the female one for a change.

if one is careful, they can certainly find a gender neutral method to convey information

They do not want to understand. They want computers to be an appliance. My sister decided not to use dropbox to share family photos because she did not want to take the time to learn how to do it.

That, to me, is any number of things --
- it is lazy; they are choosing the 'easy' path, rather than the smart path -- it's really not easier, and it fails to enrich the mind in the process.

- it is myopic; they could save a lot of people a lot of trouble if they did learn -- even if they could not do repairs themselves, they'd at least save the techs a lot of trouble doing diagnostics if they knew what they were talking about.

- it is costly; most people don't have a friendly nerd like me -- so they pay others to do what they themselves will not. Yes, it is easier, in the narrow sense that they didn't have to diagnose and fix it themselves -- but is it worth the expense that most people pay at eg Best Buy to get a "quick fix" for their computer? (eg removing a virus by wiping the hard drive and hoping the user has good backups) My answer is "**** NO!"

- it is hypocritical. Why do they expect someone else to do what they will not themselves do? I realize that there's an element of that to everyone (I myself will eat cooked meat, but I am quite squeamish around the raw stuff and would never want to work in a meatpacking plant), but this is a little more extreme to me. Maybe this one's just me. Not sure.

I would have no problems with this attitude to a limited extent -- someone who was content to be able to dust their desktop's innards twice a year (double that if they have pets) and do very simple hardware repairs (eg adding a data-only hard drive or replacing optical drives or RAM). I really don't expect more than that of the average Tom or Jane. But they should know at least that.

Further, I feel that this all is a cultural trend -- we as a culture, if not as collective humanity, want things to be easier than they are. Our idea of "a better world" is still one in which there are servants for everyone. It's just that those servants are technological instead of biological -- and we like to think that we're not creating new moral issues with that idea -- when, in fact, they're flooding in and we're just refusing to deal with them now._________________